DVC swimmers take second and third at state championship
Kelsey Leonard 19-year-old, pre-med student, one of the female captains of the DVC swim team standing by the pool after her swim on May 6, 2015
May 12, 2015
The Diablo Valley College swim team’s 24 Big 8 Conference qualifiers competed at the California Community College Athletic Association State Swimming Championship at East Los Angeles College from April 30 to May 2.
With two national records broken by Brandon James, DVC men swimmers won second place with a score of 479, and with two state records broken by Kelsey Leonard, DVC women swimmers won third place with a score of 364.
According to swim team head coach Rick Millington, the men swimmers also broke a 17 year record for the 400 medley relay by 4.5 seconds.
Swimmer Brandon James, 18, received the Performance of the Meet Award, which is an award given to swimmers with the most overall points.
“It felt great knowing I put my best efforts in the meet and did the best I could,” he said.
Team captain Kelsey Leonard, 19, said, “It was a really hyped kind of meet. They were playing music at the pool the whole time.”
At the championships Leonard swam the 500 and 200 free, 200 fly and four relays. She won the Female Performance of the Meet Award and Female Swimmer of the Year Award.
“It’s exciting because it is the second time she won it. It’s really good for the team,” says swimmers Evan Augst, 20.
“It was a lot of swimming,” Leonard said. “I had at least two swims in the morning and three at night.”
According to Leonard, eating the right amount of food at the right time is important since nobody knows how long the race will go on and because break times are limited. She said warm ups start at 8:00 a.m., the morning meet starts at 9:30 a.m. and then there is a two to three hour break before the final meet at 5:00 p.m.
Despite the chaos, Leonard said DVC swimmers performed well and many surpassed her expectations.
Swimmer Dylan Powell said, “I got two personal best times at the state this year, it was double the points for the team compared to last year.”
“DVC is a stepping stone for swimmers to get into university teams that seem impossible to get in,” said Leonard about the DVC swim team. “We have a wide rage of talents.”
